Moshupa Incident: Was Olden Golden?

Monitor Editor | Monday September 14, 2020 16:17

Growing increasingly disillusioned with the direction his party was taking under the leadership of former president Ian Khama, the firebrand politician urged a change of tact.

“A re boele ko marakanelong a ditsela, re e go simolla tsela gape,” DK advised.

This meant going back to the crossroads and check where it could have possibly gone wrong, then pick the pieces and proceed afresh.

As the nation grapples with a frustratingly growing trend where the classroom is no longer a safe haven for both learners and teachers, ‘DK’s ‘marakenelong’ words are now ringing louder.

A swift introspection is required as the situation threatens to get out of hand.

What had started off as another normal day at Moshupa Senior Secondary School on Tuesday last week, turned into a brutal, stark reminder of society’s moral decay. A group of students were captured on video, with brazen assurance, assaulting a teacher and other support staff at the schools.

Teachers, who are supposed to feel safe within school premises, could only watch the ugly proceedings, huddled together and speaking in hushed tones after seeking forced sanctuary in the staff room. The school had turned into a war zone and it only took the intervention of the police to restore normalcy. Here were learners, some young enough to be the teachers’ children, beating into pulp a person charged with the responsibility to shape their future.  It was a despicable act that every right thinking person has to frown upon. The Moshupa incident is not isolated, and sadly mirrors a worrying decay in the society’s moral fibre.

Children have turned into a law unto themselves. People are forced to rush home before dusk, as our own children have turned into monsters.

Learners used to fear and respect their teachers, but the tables have spectacularly turned as we witnessed in Moshupa last week. In stories elsewhere in this edition, some parents put the blame on the doorstep of what they see as the abandonment of the traditional family values. Pop culture is the new thing. It has invaded our living rooms, our schools and the work place. We have adopted what is regarded as a more lenient Western culture when it comes to the upbringing of children. Parents no longer dictate terms, but instead, children do, and at times the law is on their side.  During what could be considered a golden era of raising a child, the rod was not spared, and in most cases, the child was not spoilt. A child belonged to the society, and their upbringing was a shared responsibility. In the wake of the Moshupa and other similar incidents, is it not time the nation hurriedly treks back to ‘marakanelong’?